Railroad Video & Rail fan Thread, POST THEM HERE!

[afleetcommand]

My Youtube Channels have forced an education in data management , harkens back to a prior life in the Graphics Computer applications world. Cad/Cam back then, Rail fan video now. The video's I do for Chainsaw & Logging are done with what is considered "Standard Definition" and with 30 frames per second. Works fine, has for years. 1280x720 at 30fps or 720p . For the train video's that's simply not adequate as the frames often are "blurred" and the video's always are a bit stuttered as the train can move a larger distance from frame to frame. SO first upped the frame rate on my older camera on the Samsun a51 & Cannon. Actually wasn't bad for the most part. With the "new for me" Samsung s23 Ultra I have much greater capability and was excited to explore ...... found there are larger issues as a result. ( Pun intended ). With the better lenses & higher pixel density per frame possible I was able to use Samsung's "uhd 60" where the video's are 1920x1080 at 60 frames per second, I was now able to both get clarity in the frames but also a "smoother" looking video than was possible with my prior cameras. Also EVERY frame was like a photograph of high quality. A completely new level of capability. Works...except for one problem. My "movie maker" video editor could not read in those files. SO off to the races again trying to fine a video editor simple enough for an old fart, but with the capability of both importing those hd mp4 files AND replicating the files in the generated video on the other side. I've tried & used a variety of "free" editors from Divinci Resolve to the one I used the last few weeks, Openshot. Also Micro softs new editor "clipchamp". ALL of them require more ram and a faster video display than my gen 8 i7 with a invidia graphics card can handle. But with Openshot I am able to chug my way thru at a painfully slow speed but at least get out a decent quality video. SO at this point the Open Shot editor & hd60 ( Samsung s23 Ultra ) mp4 file input are a tolerable mix to where I get an "OK" YouTube video as a result. ALSO the YouTube can process up to that "hd1080" level and most of the folks with a decent smart phone can watch a reasonable quality Railfan video.

But I want better. SO armed with a 4k and uhd video setting on the Samsung s23 Ultra I took the following video. Ran into ALL kinds of new limits. I was able to grunt my way thru Openshot to both input the higher density mp4 file ( 2560x1440) at 60 frames per second, and also output a file in a similar density. But MY computer literally can't display that video so I tweaked the FPS to 59.5 and for some reason...not my computer does a reasonable job. SO uploaded it to YouTube and THEY were able to process the file to a p1440 with is close. But ran into the next problem. My internet speed. I can display the video , play it back with reasonable quality if I keep the display window small....a graphic card limitation. But I still get buffering from the internet to computer connections. The good news is my Samsung s23 has no problem and the video looks sharp...but I have a 5g service as well. So this video is essentially a test.

It is a test of a graphics card/bus speed therefore display speed on your device, internet speed TO your device. It also is past a practical limit I believe for most older computers. The upper limit of video quality that is useful. So I will probably go back to the hd60 ( p1080) on my camera and the 1920x1080 output at 60fps on what ever video editor I end up with. But to those curious where their video performance is on their device....here is the limit of mine.

 

[legdelimber]

I'm on an older laptop, Dell latitude e5430, 16 gig of ram, cant recall any specs about processor etc. Linux for operating sys. I'm still learning about it.
If you want (internal ) optical drive/burner (I do) seems you gotta go older gear or outrageously expensive for new.

Wifi here has always been spotty. Not my house and trying to solve internet problems just gets an argument going.

anyway.
With the hardware that I'm using.
edit to add: I forgot to mention, all that of these tests were in full screen mode.
and forgot the 1440 results.

1440: jitters and freezes every few seconds.

1080: gets buffering every minute or so.
Some slight horizontal jitter. About same width as the vertical lines of the large letters on the tankers.

720: buffering almost completely gone.
The jitter gets noticeably worse though, Letters start to get a bit overlapped, sort of smeared looking from it.

480: buffering gone. but letters are starting to become pretty blurry and look like they are vibrating back and forth/left right.
Like something is trying to predict which frame/position to put them into and just throwing them back and forth as the frames advance.

Oh and I do like some good audio in Train vids! Nice to able to hear the big diesels grunting.

But no music please (to everyone, including chainsaws and other stuff), I always come for the sound of the machinery, it tells me a lot about things.

 

[bogieboy]

Running a galaxy a10e on a really poor 4g (supposedly) lte+ signal, cannot get the 1440 to buffer, 1080 buffers evwntually, and plays smooth til it has to rebuffer... this would be a data issue, not ahardware issue though...gonna try again tomorrow on works wifi...LOL

 

[afleetcommand]

Have a couple "low light" video's and a lot of the main line stuff on my smaller "private" channel for trains and boat motors )
Here is one of a few I will sprinkle in

 

[legdelimber]

I don't think that I'd ever qualify as a rail fan, but I do appreciate the things that make the locomotives different as they change over time or for purpose.
Pretty much any mechanized thing we humans build can catch my attention for some reason or detail though.
And Yes I've even watched a couple of rebuild videos of the engines themselves.

Saws, milling machines, tractors, cars, long reach excavator demolishing a building, just so many things to see!
Industrial shredder vids can take up my time all too easily.

We don't always know what sort of history you might be recording in "fan Videos", so I think that it's good to capture them.

Stay with it afleetcommand.
Some of us may be limited to seeing parts of the world through the web, for any number of reasons.
You never know who's day you guys may be helping along with some well focused footage.

 

[afleetcommand]

A few nights back THIS one I found a place where the "low light" doesn't matter

 

[legdelimber]

All of that falling snow gives a nice diffuse lighting.
Seems like it really shortened the noise travel too.
I get the physics of it, but the more base(?) part of my mind still gets always caught up in noticing it, while the analytical part gets busy taking notes of the differences that the snow brings.

 

[afleetcommand]

Saturday Afternoon 1-13-2024, Two Hours of CSX activity East Of Minoa, MP280-MP281
A wind event on my place, so rather than get whacked by a tree, delivered a little firewood up there and hung around the CSX mainline for an hour or two to collect CSX video as they passed by.

 

[FergusonTO35]

The C&O road from Ashland to Lexington used to cross the L&N at the passenger depot in Winchester, KY. This was how it looked prior to the depot being suddenly demolished in 1980 as part of C&O's effort to bury the Lexington sub as quickly as possible.



CSX still uses the L&N today, probably their busiest line in the Bluegrass. This is what the same location looked like this afternoon on the other side of the tracks. The C&O and the depot are long gone, replaced by a multipurpose space that is a farmer's market in warm weather. The small monument in the foreground commemorates the old passenger depot.

 

[afleetcommand]

The C&O road from Ashland to Lexington used to cross the L&N at the passenger depot in Winchester, KY. This was how it looked prior to the depot being suddenly demolished in 1980 as part of C&O's effort to bury the Lexington sub as quickly as possible.

View attachment 404287

CSX still uses the L&N today, probably their busiest line in the Bluegrass. This is what the same location looked like this afternoon on the other side of the tracks. The C&O and the depot are long gone, replaced by a multipurpose space that is a farmer's market in warm weather. The small monument in the foreground commemorates the old passenger depot.

View attachment 404288

Keep those pics coming! Document some of the local history The CSX has had several of the "Heritage" Locomotives going back and forth, I've tryed to "capture" them on the channel. Got some, not all.

 

[afleetcommand]

Three days of CSX in the Syracuse area. ( Tweeners , In between log job ops )

 

[afleetcommand]

Got a couple of slow moving Manifests, and a cool sunset

 

[afleetcommand]

FAST moving freight in the last couple, and a real interesting for EMD fans "lashup" on the first.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Keep those pics coming! Document some of the local history The CSX has had several of the "Heritage" Locomotives going back and forth, I've tryed to "capture" them on the channel. Got some, not all.

This spring I'm planning to make a day trip to document as much of the Lexington Sub as I can. Alot of the ROW with bridges, tunnels, and telegraph poles still exists as does a remnant of active track which serves industry in Greenup and Boyd counties. Much of the Lexington ROW is now a walking trail with a few old railroad buildings still standing, now privately owned. A coal tipple at the former Lexington C&O yard is still in use by a concrete plant. I'm rather surprised that the Winchester to Lexington part was never shortlined, given that there was alot of industry in that area and Lexington still has many intact but seldom used branch lines.

 

[afleetcommand]

The longest Manifest I have EVER seen or videoed to this point, CSX x409 a 816 axle west bound thru Kirkville NY

 

[FergusonTO35]

Wow, with only four engines. I remember trains much shorter than that having six in the early 90's.

 

[afleetcommand]

Yup think of it this way, back in the 1960's was a "jump" in HP technology, a powerful diesel of that period was in the 2000 hp range and DC traction motors. In the 1970's the sd40's & EMD's 645's pushed that to a reliable 3000hp, now they are in the 4000hp range. ONE of those GE's have both the HP and tractive efforts of TWO of those 1960's era power houses. So 6 locomotives in the 1960's was like 3 today. .... and that train on the "water level" ex NYC line had 4, over 17,000hp. with AC traction motors. More "tractive" effort with those AC motors and newer truck designs. Would have taken 7 or 8 of those 1960's era locomotives to accomplish what the 4 did here. AND in the 1960's "DPU's" was a bleeding edge concept. most "mid" train additional locomotives had there own crews with radio communication. Now..... one engineer controls all those in the trains from head end to dpu's. Not sure that train could have been done "practically" with 1960's tech. AND that is before you consider the physics of managing such a long train with elevation changes thought slight are there & curves. A LONG "string" trying to be pulled straight, with mid train power it's safer and physically easier to manage those long ones.

 

[hacskaroly]

I've always liked trains, spent a few years in the mid 90s working at two BNSF intermodal yards in California and a KCS intermodal yard (combo of KCS, Conrail, Gateway Western and IMRL) in Kansas City. I got to work both out in the yard on the equipment and in the office as a train coordinator (assigning trailers and containers to the outbound rail cars). It was a fun job, I really enjoyed it and being around the trains, sure learned a lot!

 

[afleetcommand]

Focus on EMD power in the lashup's

 

[hacskaroly]

Focus on EMD power in the lashup's

TOFC/COFC FTW! I always found it weird that they can stack a loaded 53' container on an empty 48' container in the well cars.